05 Feb Final Haiti Praise Report
Here is Joan Sider’s final report on behalf of the 11 Canadians who went on a work trip to Haiti. The group returned on Tuesday. Follow the link.
04 Feb Haiti Report: Saturday, Sunday, Monday
The Haiti team from Canada is back, almost. They got stuck in Miami Tuesday night, but today, Wednesday, will continue back to Ontario.
Follow the link to read Joan Sider’s account of their final three days in Haiti. And don’t miss the song at the end, written to the tune of “This is the Day” to recap the entire trip.
04 Feb Containers for Sierra Leone
A former doctor in Sierra Leone has been gathering a lot of equipment for Mattru Hospital, where he served in the 1980s. He received several donations of medical equipment and medicines from hospitals in northern Indiana–Fort Wayne, Auburn, Bluffton. Some of the hospitals had closed certain units, and they donated equipment they no longer needed.
The equipment was stored in a warehouse in Garret, Ind. The first container was sent on January 9 with 14,300 pounds of goods.
It takes about a month for a container to reach Africa. Donna Hollopeter, Associate Director of Global Ministries, says this is the first of what will probably be three containers they will send.
Two shipments from other organizations are also in progress:
- Samaritan’s Purse will be sending a shipment from their own warehouse. We don’t know yet exactly when it will go.
- Brother’s Brother is also preparing a shipment of beds and mattresses for the hospital. They are not necessarily a Christian organization, but provide help in Third World countries.
As mentioned, we’ll be sending a second, and possibly a third, container to Sierra Leone. While the materials we send are usually donated, we still need $12,500 per container to cover shipping costs. Global Ministries would greatly appreciate your help in underwriting the shipping costs. Just send your gift to Global Ministries, and write “for container shipment” on the memo line.
02 Feb Haiti Report: Thursday and Friday
Follow the link below for Joan Sider’s reports from last Thursday and Friday in Haiti. She is part of a team of Canadians doing medical and other work in Haiti. Joan is from the UB church in Toronto, Ontario.
29 Jan Haiti: Tuesday Update from the Canadian Team
Here is Joan Sider’s Tuesday report from Haiti. She has been sending daily reports from the 11-person team from Canada currently in Haiti.
28 Jan Report from Haiti
After visiting our churches in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, I flew up to Miami to catch a plane to Haiti. I’m spending three days there, joining a team from our churches in Canada. I’ll return to the States on January 28.
The Canadian Team is doing a tremendous job in Haiti. The group of 11 from a number of UB churches have been doing construction at Delmas, quilting classes, children’s ministry, medical caravans, and leadership training.
Neil Cudney of Hespler, Ontario (second from the left), is orienting pastors to use “Train and Multiply” materials that have been printed in Creole.
26 Jan Jessica Hollopeter Joins UB Missionary Family
Jessica Hollopeter has been approved as a missionary with Global Ministries. She will be working with OMS International.
Jessica is our first applicant approved to the “Sojourn” category. She will be an employee of Global Ministries working as a Missions Journalist for both OMS International and Global Ministries. She will be based in Greenwood, Ind., and make a number of trips per year throughout the world, bringing back stories of what God is doing.
Jessica is looking for prayer and financial partners and would love for you to contact her. Her email is [email protected]. Her annual budget will be approximately $50,000, and she will be raising outfitting funds for a new camera and notebook computer.
Jessica, a recent Huntington University graduate, is the youngest daughter of Jason and Donna Hollopeter.
26 Jan Canadian Group in Haiti
A medical team from the United Brethren churches in Ontario left for Haiti last Friday, January 23. Joan Sider, from the UB church in Toronto, sent back reports for the first two days. Follow the link below to read her reports.
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries, is currently in Central America. He will join the Canadian team (Jeff himself is Canadian) this Wednesday.
26 Jan Reports from Haiti
The United Brethren Church in Canada currently has a team in Haiti. Joan Sider, from the New Hope UB church in Toronto, has been filing daily reports, and they are quite interesting. Her first three reports (from last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) are on the UB News page.
We have about ten churches in Canada. Not too long ago, we were all very much integrated; they were part of the East District, and Bishop C. Ray Miller was their bishop, stopping through Ontario on his way from Michigan to Pennsylvania. But in the 1990s, the UB churches in Canada became the first United Brethren national conference. 
Today, we have nine national conferences.
The Canadians have taken a huge interest in Haiti, sending groups down there regularly. And Joan Sider has been part of most of those groups.
Joan Sider’s mother, Lottie Sider (right), was known as a great prayer warrior. Lottie passed away on January 20, at age 100 plus 15 days. Joan was the primary caregiver for her mother during the past few years.
A private burial was held shortly before Joan left for Haiti. A memorial service will be held February 7 at New Hope church at 11 a.m.
22 Jan Readying a New Ministry in Macau
Jeff Kline, Macau
A few months ago as we were looking for new direction here in Macau, we felt that God gave us our answer. Though we had never stepped into the doors at TIS, we felt God was directing in this direction by putting two youth in our church that attend there.
From that moment on, God continued to place people from TIS into our lives; two Christian teachers and a Christian Vice Principal! Then we realized we knew four other Christian kids from TIS and started conversations with them about starting a new outreach ministry at their school. All of them seemed to be excited and ready to reach their friends.
That’s when Saturday nights with TIS kids began. So for the past 3 months we have invited kids into our home. We have anywhere from 3-15 kids a week. So Saturday nights are a time to hang-out, play sports, eat and talk.
That is the first part of our new ministry. The second part is an on-campus ministry we hope to start in the near future. We plan to visit the school once a week to hold a Club, a one-hour event where we play ice-breaker games, talk about a teen-relevant topic, and share what God thinks about that topic.
From these two ministries comes the third: small groups.
The fourth part of this ministry is big events held with the help of Living Stone Church. And since five is one more than four, the fifth part is student leadership where we get together on Thursday mornings early to pray for and talk about ways to better tell their friends about Christ.
Through these five ministries to TIS kids, we hope to introduce them to a loving God who desires to have a personal relationship with them, connect them with other Christians in Macau, bring them into a local church, and show them just how good and life-changing a life with Jesus is!
Please pray for us as we start-up this new ministry. Please pray for the staff and administration at TIS. Please pray for the students at TIS.